Best questions for kindergarten teacher survey about social emotional learning

Here are some of the best questions for a kindergarten teacher survey about social emotional learning, plus a few practical tips on how to create them. With Specific, you can build a conversational survey in seconds—no manual forms or scripts required.

Best open-ended questions for kindergarten teacher surveys on social emotional learning

Open-ended questions let teachers express their real opinions, experiences, and context—this is where the most valuable insights surface. They work best when you want honest feedback and unexpected answers that structured choices can’t capture. Given the transformative gains of SEL programs (including better social skills, stronger school connections, and improved academics)[1], it’s essential to hear directly from those shaping young learners.

1. What has been your most positive experience teaching social emotional learning in your classroom?

2. Which SEL skills do you notice children picking up fastest, and why?

3. Can you share a challenge you face when integrating SEL into daily routines?

4. How do you adapt SEL instruction for children with different needs or backgrounds?

5. What support or resources would improve your ability to teach SEL?

6. How do you see SEL impacting your students’ readiness for academic learning?

7. Can you give an example of a student who benefited noticeably from SEL activities?

8. How do you involve families in supporting SEL development at home?

9. What changes would you recommend for our current SEL program or curriculum?

10. Are there topics within SEL that you think deserve more attention in our school?

These questions bring out deep, actionable stories and ideas—something that matters when educators’ voices can shape new or existing SEL initiatives.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for kindergarten teacher surveys on social emotional learning

Single-select multiple-choice questions are your go-to when you need to quantify opinions, spot patterns quickly, or start a conversation. Sometimes, teachers find it easier to pick an option before sharing details, letting you capture high-level trends and dig deeper through smart follow-ups.

Question: How confident are you in delivering social emotional learning activities?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Neutral

• Not very confident

Question: Which area of SEL do your students need the most support in?

• Self-awareness

• Self-management

• Relationship skills

• Social awareness

• Responsible decision-making

• Other

Question: What is the main barrier to teaching SEL in your classroom?

• Lack of time

• Insufficient training

• Limited resources

• Unclear curriculum

• Other

When to followup with "why?" Ask “why?” whenever you need the reasoning behind a choice. For example, after “What is the main barrier to teaching SEL?” a follow-up like “Can you tell me more about how this barrier affects your teaching?” gives you deeper, actionable feedback.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” when the list may not cover every situation. Following up on an “Other” response (e.g., “Could you describe your unique challenge?”) can reveal insights you hadn’t thought to ask about, making your data richer and more useful.

Should you use an NPS-style question in a kindergarten teacher survey on social emotional learning?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) isn’t just for products—it gauges advocacy, loyalty, and overall satisfaction. In a kindergarten teacher SEL survey, an NPS-style question like “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our SEL program to other teachers?” quickly highlights champions and detractors. This one measure, plus a targeted follow-up (“Why did you give this score?”), can show you how teachers really feel about your SEL approach and surface actionable themes across the board. Try auto-generating an NPS-based conversational survey with this link.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions turn surveys from static checklists into real conversations, helping you go beyond surface answers. Specific’s automatic AI follow-up feature is built for this—it listens to every reply, then asks precise questions in real time, as a smart human interviewer would. These intuitive probes save hours teams would otherwise spend emailing back and forth for clarification, all while keeping the exchange natural and engaging.

• Teacher: “Sometimes SEL feels rushed.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share more about why SEL feels rushed, and what would help you dedicate more time to it?”

How many followups to ask? In practice, two to three follow-ups get you to the core insight without slowing anyone down. With Specific, you can set how many probing questions to allow, and opt to skip forward if a teacher's answer already covers what you need.

This makes it a conversational survey. Your survey adapts to the flow of discussion, like a chat—not a boring static form.

AI survey response analysis, AI-powered themes: With lots of open-ended text, AI makes it easy to analyze responses by summarizing, grouping, and surfacing major themes automatically.

Auto-followups are a new breed of survey. We encourage you to generate a conversational survey and experience just how much deeper, richer, and faster feedback collection can be.

Prompts for ChatGPT or GPT survey generators: how to get great kindergarten teacher SEL survey questions

Want to brainstorm your own questions? Try pasting this into ChatGPT (or any AI-powered survey maker):

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for kindergarten teacher survey about social emotional learning.

AI always does better with more context—describe your goals, school environment, student population, or what you’re struggling with, and you’ll get sharper, more targeted questions. Here’s an example:

We’re getting feedback from kindergarten teachers in a diverse, urban public school to improve our SEL curriculum. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to discover effective practices, training needs, and challenges regarding SEL in their classrooms.

Once you’ve drafted questions, ask the AI to organize and refine them:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, zoom in with this:

Generate 10 questions for categories “training needs” and “effective SEL practices”.

The process is iterative and gets better each round—so don’t hesitate to tweak prompts for even stronger results.

What is a conversational survey? AI survey generation vs. traditional survey building

Conversational surveys are chat-based, adaptive interviews—every response triggers smart follow-ups that gather full, in-the-moment context. Compare that to traditional forms, which are rigid, impersonal, and often fail to capture the “why” behind answers. With AI leading the way, building and refining surveys is faster, easier, and far more responsive—especially for first-timers or teams short on time.

Why use AI for kindergarten teacher surveys? The stats say it all: 60% of teachers already use AI tools to save an average of six hours a week[3]. Add to that the unique ability to ask nuanced follow-up questions and analyze data seamlessly. With AI survey examples, your feedback process becomes smoother, more engaging, and far more insightful—for both you and the respondents.

Specific prides itself on delivering the best conversational survey experience on the market, tailored for every use case—so whether you’re seeking a ready-made prompt or want to learn how to create a survey from scratch, you’ll find the process both intuitive and delightful.

See this social emotional learning survey example now

Discover how simple it is to capture honest, actionable insights with a conversational SEL survey for teachers. Try generating your own—dynamic follow-ups, AI insights, and rich feedback are just a few clicks away.